Special Address by President von der Leyen at the Davos Agenda Week. Thank you very much, dear Klaus, Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for inviting me again, https://www.eudebates.tv/debates/special-debates/future-of-europe/davos-agenda-week-president-von-der-leyen-eudebates-davosagenda/
And indeed, it is worth looking back. When I was with you in Davos a year ago, Donald Trump's visit was at the centre of attention. And we were worried about the stability of our global alliances. And climate activist Greta Thunberg was also on top of a guest list full of stars. And indeed, my speech focused on the European Green Deal and of course Digitalisation. But at that time, other news very quietly were coming to us from China and they were barely noticed by most of us. Few suspected at the time that this would be the start of a pandemic that a year later would still hold us in its grip.
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And yet, there were signs in Davos last January. Richard Hatchett, for example, the former White House pandemic advisor, he was a lone voice when he said: ‘This is not a Chinese problem. This is a problem for the whole world.' And he was to be proven right.
And a year ago, my bilateral talks revolved primarily around the question: Would, for example, the U.S. government impose punitive tariffs on European carmakers? Today, a year later, we are worrying about whether democracy itself might have been permanently damaged in the last four years. And images, like we saw a few weeks ago when an angry mob stormed the Capitol, were beyond my imagination.
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And yet, the dangers that social media poses to our democracy were also already discussed in Davos. I remember sitting in a basement restaurant of my hotel with, among others, the business journalist Rana Foroohar and the former Google developer Tristan Harris. And you might have seen some of them in the documentary ‘The Social Dilemma' – I can only recommend it.
At that time, the activists warned about the business models of big tech companies and the consequences for our democracy. And they described how the economic laws of social media are eating away at the fabric of our society. And how fake news, driven by algorithms, spread six times faster than real news. They pinned their hopes on Europe. Because the European Union had already proven that it is able to set standards that are respected around the world, such as with our General Data Protection Regulation – the GDPR. So the warning signs were already there in Davos.
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